Ground Beef Salmonella Outbreak Sickens 14 In New York, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire
A Salmonella outbreak linked to ground beef sold at Hannaford grocery stores has sickened 14 people in New York, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
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On December 15, Hannaford, based in Scarborough, Maine issued a recall on an undetermined amount of fresh ground beef after information gathered from epidemiologic and traceback investigations conducted by the FSIS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health officials linked the illnesses to ground beef sold by the grocery chain.
Eleven of the 14 patients reported eating ground beef before becoming ill, 10 of them reported purchasing ground beef at Hannaford stores in Maine, New York, New Hampshire and Vermont between Oct. 12 and Nov. 20, according to FSIS.
The outbreak strain is an antibiotic-resistant strain of Salmonella Typhimurium, seven patients have required hospitalization and no deaths have been reported, according to the CDC.
FSIS has not yet determined responsible suppliers and no other product description is available at this time.
The recalled ground beef packages bear sell-by dates of Dec. 17, 2011 or earlier and were sold at Hannaford stores throughout Maine, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. FSIS and the company are concerned that some product may be frozen and in consumers' freezers. When available, the retail distribution list(s) will be posted on FSIS' website at: www.fsis.usda.gov/
The products subject to recall are any size package of the following:
"73% Hannaford Regular Ground Beef"
"75% Hannaford Regular Ground Beef"
"80% Hannaford Regular Ground Beef"
"85% Hannaford Regular Ground Beef"
"90% Hannaford Regular Ground Beef"
"80% Taste of Inspirations Angus Ground Beef"
"85% Taste of Inspirations Angus Ground Beef"
"90% Taste of Inspirations Angus Ground Beef"
"85% Nature's Place Ground Beef"
"90% Nature's Place Ground Beef"7
Eating food tainted with Salmonella can cause salmonellosis, an infection that can be serious and sometimes life-threatening especially for the elderly, young children and those with weakened immune systems.
Symptoms usually develop within 12 to 72 hours after ingestion and include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever. In some cases, severe complications including meningitis, colitis and reactive arthritis can develop.
Anyone with with legal questions about an illness or a hospitalization associated with this outbreak should contact the Salmonella attorneys at PritzkerOlsen for a free consultation.
